REST Day 7: The unavoidable truth about Lent
I'm starting to learn that Lent can get a little interesting.
I've KNOWN getting off social media was something I absolutely needed to do for my faith and family, but I didn't think it would become so, well, evangelical.
Let me explain. I'm really not one to avoid spiritual discussion, but I do prefer quiet, tactful conversations, and I've definitely been known to get sweaty and cough-y and nervous over sharing my faith to non-Christians. You feel me?
Lately however, I've started filling in strangers on my spiritual journey just because I'm off social media.
Didn't see that one coming.
Now, if you read that phrase, I'm sure you don't see anything about sin, death, resurrection, punishment, eternal life, or the Lord Jesus Christ in there, but I might as well have said that for as hot and bothered I felt in the moment. What am I doing? I thought. In one fell swoop I've told this person I've never met before that I'm an observant Christian and church member.
I even tried to catch myself as the word church came out, but something told me to keep talking. So I did.
The guy was about as nice and laidback as you could get and reacted little, if at all, to what I said. He was pleasant and wished me a nice day.
Interaction over.
But my mind kept turning.
In Girl Meets God Lauren Winner describes the first time she wore Ash Wednesday ashes on her forehead and ended up having several conversations with random strangers about faith and life. "I had been prepared for Ash Wednesday to be intense," she writes. "I had been prepared to feel something profound or moving when [my priest] told me I was dust. I was not prepared for it to be a day of unavoidable evangelism" (121).
She goes on to say that she enjoyed her church's typical embrace of "lifestyle evangelism"-- a way of living that reflects the teachings of Christ without so much an emphasis on whipping out John 3:16 on each passerby. But Ash Wednesday is different. "It is nothing if not bold," Winner writes. They proclaim an allegiance, a world view, a belief system, there is no getting around it.
I really don't see giving up social media, or observing Lent, as all that profound in themselves. I know that it is important for me, but in the grand scheme of things I feel like it's a pretty small offering. And yet, in one week I've briefed more strangers on my faith than I have in probably six months. That's worth considering.
My mind went back to Winner. Winner writes about how having ashes on her forehead led her to have several spiritual conversations with strangers. No one prayed the sinner's prayer with her or anything, but, she reflects, "I consoled myself that it might not have been a total failure [at evangelism]. After all, before I became a Christian, many people said many things to me that didn't result in my immediate conversation, but over time, they added up. Maybe just knowing that a normal-seeming graduate student at an Ivy League school is willing to proclaim, at least one day a year, that she is a Christian, will lodge somewhere in some student's heart."
Somehow this seemed what was happening in the Kroger parking lot this morning: just saying something that might later add up for this one person. Maybe just knowing that a sort-of nice lady with two kids observed Lent and went to church, might stick in his mind and maybe church or faith won't seem so strange or weird at some point in his life. Maybe he'll be reminded that there's something bigger than social media out there and it won't see so crazy to want it.
Maybe. Maybe not. But that's the thing about faith, right? We're not completely sure how it works or how it grows or does or doesn't make sense to somebody, we're just supposed to tell, to talk, to share stories, and pray that God can use us.
I'm no loudmouth, Bible-thumping evangelist, but I do realize I've made a choice to live a little louder this season, and I honestly? I really just hope these conversations keep on coming.
JOURNAL PROMPT:
Has observing Lent prompted any spiritual conversations for you with others? Strangers or loved ones? If yes, tell us what happened! (If not, let's all recognize that this is not a comparison contest). Consider writing a prayer to God asking Him how He could be most honored in your life in this season and what He might want you to do.
I've KNOWN getting off social media was something I absolutely needed to do for my faith and family, but I didn't think it would become so, well, evangelical.
Let me explain. I'm really not one to avoid spiritual discussion, but I do prefer quiet, tactful conversations, and I've definitely been known to get sweaty and cough-y and nervous over sharing my faith to non-Christians. You feel me?
Lately however, I've started filling in strangers on my spiritual journey just because I'm off social media.
Didn't see that one coming.
This morning I was chatting with the Kroger employee loading the groceries in the car, and like every surface social interaction, we passed words about the weather and the time-change. For some reason I blurted out that I had given up social media for Lent and would have forgotten about the time-change if someone from my church hadn't sent out a friendly reminder email.
Now, if you read that phrase, I'm sure you don't see anything about sin, death, resurrection, punishment, eternal life, or the Lord Jesus Christ in there, but I might as well have said that for as hot and bothered I felt in the moment. What am I doing? I thought. In one fell swoop I've told this person I've never met before that I'm an observant Christian and church member.
I even tried to catch myself as the word church came out, but something told me to keep talking. So I did.
The guy was about as nice and laidback as you could get and reacted little, if at all, to what I said. He was pleasant and wished me a nice day.
Interaction over.
But my mind kept turning.
Last Thursday I ended up talking with my hairdresser about church and faith because of my mention of giving up social media for Lent.
Well, this is interesting...
What is this? Who am I? The quiet girl who brings up faith topics only to people she knows is talking Lent and sacrifice and church and faith with strangers. What? Why?
I'm learning there seems to be something unavoidably evangelical about Lent and Easter; something obtuse, loud and clear about what you believe and where you stand when you observe these things.
She goes on to say that she enjoyed her church's typical embrace of "lifestyle evangelism"-- a way of living that reflects the teachings of Christ without so much an emphasis on whipping out John 3:16 on each passerby. But Ash Wednesday is different. "It is nothing if not bold," Winner writes. They proclaim an allegiance, a world view, a belief system, there is no getting around it.
I really don't see giving up social media, or observing Lent, as all that profound in themselves. I know that it is important for me, but in the grand scheme of things I feel like it's a pretty small offering. And yet, in one week I've briefed more strangers on my faith than I have in probably six months. That's worth considering.
My mind went back to Winner. Winner writes about how having ashes on her forehead led her to have several spiritual conversations with strangers. No one prayed the sinner's prayer with her or anything, but, she reflects, "I consoled myself that it might not have been a total failure [at evangelism]. After all, before I became a Christian, many people said many things to me that didn't result in my immediate conversation, but over time, they added up. Maybe just knowing that a normal-seeming graduate student at an Ivy League school is willing to proclaim, at least one day a year, that she is a Christian, will lodge somewhere in some student's heart."
Somehow this seemed what was happening in the Kroger parking lot this morning: just saying something that might later add up for this one person. Maybe just knowing that a sort-of nice lady with two kids observed Lent and went to church, might stick in his mind and maybe church or faith won't seem so strange or weird at some point in his life. Maybe he'll be reminded that there's something bigger than social media out there and it won't see so crazy to want it.
Maybe. Maybe not. But that's the thing about faith, right? We're not completely sure how it works or how it grows or does or doesn't make sense to somebody, we're just supposed to tell, to talk, to share stories, and pray that God can use us.
I'm no loudmouth, Bible-thumping evangelist, but I do realize I've made a choice to live a little louder this season, and I honestly? I really just hope these conversations keep on coming.
JOURNAL PROMPT:
Has observing Lent prompted any spiritual conversations for you with others? Strangers or loved ones? If yes, tell us what happened! (If not, let's all recognize that this is not a comparison contest). Consider writing a prayer to God asking Him how He could be most honored in your life in this season and what He might want you to do.
Comments
Post a Comment